


Strings Around My Heart

by femininitea



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Classical Music, M/M, Mild Language, Pianist!Iwazumi, musician au, violinist!Oikawa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 02:35:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29271093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/femininitea/pseuds/femininitea
Summary: In which Hajime encounters a violinist named Oikawa and he's never seen someone play so beautifully.
Relationships: Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru
Comments: 2
Kudos: 40





	Strings Around My Heart

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first attempt at writing in over a decade but I've been sitting on classical musician iwaoi ever since I saw [Skai's amazing headphone art](https://twitter.com/ACatNamedSkai/status/1333530672741421062?s=20) . This has been sitting in my drafts for like a week so please enjoy!
> 
> Would love to hear what you think! Please feel free to leave a comment or let me know on [twitter](https://twitter.com/mochimadd)!
> 
> There are song links embedded if you want to follow along with what they play together.

He first spotted the brown haired violinist across the hall at a 5th grade music competition. Focused on the stage, the boy sat beside a slightly taller girl, speaking inaudibly while he kept his eyes trained on the performer. The violinist on stage was nervous, trying to keep their hands steady as they stumbled their way through Brahms. Hajime felt a snarl rising in his throat but forced himself to stay seated and muted in his chair. Who was this brat that thought he could talk through another performer’s piece? Nerves had raked through Hajime’s own body when it was his turn on stage so he felt a strong sense of camaraderie for the performer. 

Scattered applause announced the end of the performance and the performer stiffly bowed to the judges and nearly booked it offstage. Probably going to throw up. Or find their teacher. It wasn’t a bad performance, not like Hajime truly understood the technique of the violin, but it had sounded okay? He was able to pick out a few wrong notes, a slight vibrato on the string when it wasn’t needed but Hajime had grown up in the classical music world. He was indoctrinated by way of his mother, a concert violinist currently touring through Japan. Hajime learned to accompany her on the piano when he was younger, honing those skills as he grew up. Even when he had to go to piano lessons, he didn’t seem to hate them as much as some of the other kids at his school. 

The bullying started when one of his classmates lost to Hajime in a child’s piano competition. It wasn’t anything special; all the participants got certificates anyway, but for his special performance of Fur Elise, Hajime also was presented with a small bouquet of flowers. 

“Playing music is for girly boys! And only sissies like getting flowers!” The boys would tease him at recess, scribbling on his sheet music and shoving Hajime to the ground. 

“That isn’t what my mama says,” Hajime retorts, springing back to his feet. 

“Well she is always around girly boys, so of course you’d be the same,” they taunted. Pulling faces at Hajime, they ran off laughing. 

“Stupid! Boneheads!” Hajime sniffed, but gathered up his sheet music off the ground. His mama was coming home tonight and she promised to practice a few hours with him. Hajime loved when she played for him; the ringing of the violin strings, his mama adjusting her tempo to match him as they played through his favourite pieces. 

Which is why Hajime was furious that he was enraptured with the bratty boy on the stage. He held his bow with gentle fingers, deftly moving it across the strings as the piano rang out in the background. It was a beautiful piece and the duo played with perfect harmony. 

He raced backstage after the boy performed; they were the last ones to play and were the only people in the wings. Hajime skidded to a halt in front of him, holding up a finger for a moment's relief and panting. 

“Oi, where did you learn to play violin like that?” Hajime gasped out. 

The boy looked at him strangely. “I have a home tutor. She teaches at the university with my dad and travels with the orchestra.” He stuck his nose in the air in a bout of confidence. “I saw you playing earlier. You’re pretty good at piano but I bet you think you’re better at music than me.”

His pianist elbowed the boy in the ribs and he let out an ‘oof’ of air. “Tooru stop being such a stuck-up,” she turned towards Hajime. “I’m Oikawa Minako and this is my younger brother Tooru.”

“I’m Iwaizumi Hajime.” 

“As in Iwaizumi Ichika? The concert violinist?”

“Yeah,” he replied, “that’s my mom.”

“Oh we know her,” Tooru piped in. “Our home tutor plays in the Sendai orchestra whenever your mom plays here!”

Minako elbowed him again and Tooru yelped. “Apologize for being rude,” she said sternly. 

“I’m soooo sorry Iwa-chan, I didn’t know I was speaking to classical royalty,” Tooru exaggerated his speech, grinning up at the boy. Hajime felt his eyebrows twitch in annoyance but felt a twinge of pleasure that at least he was taller than this brat. 

“Our mom won’t be able to pick us up for another hour at least. Want to come get milkshakes with us?” Minako offered. Hajime nodded and Minako went off to collect her and Tooru’s things from their chairs. 

“Don’t call me Iwa-chan ever again,” Hajime warned. 

“So scary Iwa-chan! If I say Iwaizumi when I’m talking about music then it’ll be confusing between you and your mom! Nope, Iwa-chan it is!” 

“Fine then Stupid-kawa, don’t forget your violin.” Hajime relished the second yelp from Tooru as the two of them raced off after Minako. 

It was by coincidence that Hajime and Tooru lived relatively close to each other, only one street over from the park between them. Even though they ended up at different schools through the years, the two boys often found themselves practicing at each other’s houses after school. When they were in high school, Hajime had a free last period on Wednesdays and Fridays, often lingering outside Tooru’s school gates since it was on his way home from school and would normally walk home together. Tooru spotted him and came running with “Iwa-chan!” yelling through the air and leaping at him. 

“Ugh, Oikawa you need to stop that! You’re going to break my back!”

“Iwa-chan will always catch me! He’s got big strong arms,” Oikawa nuzzled into his neck, now having to tilt down a few centimetres. The wrinkle in Hajime’s brows told Oikawa just how much Hajime loathed this turn of events but his Iwa-chan was just so snuggable!

“Keep eating that milk bread so often and I’m not sure how much longer I’ll be able to,” Hajime teased back. 

“No matter if Oikawa-sama eats all the milk bread in the world or gains extra pounds, Iwa-chan will still love me right?” 

Hajime rolled his eyes. “Yeah yeah whatever. Get as full of milk bread as you want. Now can you get off please? I want to go home and you’re making a scene again.” Sure enough, people were shooting them strange looks as they passed for the day.

Oikawa reluctantly relaxed his grip from Hajime’s shoulder and steered them both in the direction of home. 

“Hey Iwa-chan, you know that classical competition coming up at the end of next month?”

“The one at Sendai hall? What about it?”

“Do you want to enter it with me?”

Hajime was shocked. Oikawa and him messed around together during their after school practice, Hajime sometimes joining Minako during their tutoring sessions but Tooru’s sister always played with him in competition. 

“What about Minako?” 

Oikawa looked at the ground as he walked. “She’s going to university soon. She wants to be pre-med at Tokyo University and said she won’t have time over the next few years to compete with me.” Tooru looked distressed saying this out loud. Hajime couldn’t blame him; the relationship between a pianist and violinist as partners was delicate and needed trust built up. Minako and Tooru had a great relationship as siblings, which flowed into their musical dynamic. 

“We’d been fighting about it for weeks,” Tooru sighed, “but I was being a bit of a brat about it. I do get it, but she isn’t aiming to be a professional musician so she couldn’t compete with me forever. It’s a shame though, since she’s really good.”

“Minako is an incredible pianist, it’s a miracle she stuck with you for so long.”

“That’s mean, Iwa-chan! I take back my offer to compete. Now you’ll never reach the top,” Oikawa pouted.

“I can reach the top just fine,” Hajime laughed, “but maybe not the top of your massive ego. I’ll compete with you though, it’ll be fun.”

Oikawa jumped back onto Hajime, wrapping his arms around Hajime’s shoulders in a tight hug. “Really Iwa-chan, you will? I’m so happy!”

“What did you have in mind for a piece?” Hajime asked, laughing softly to himself as Oikawa chattered all the way home about the compositions he’d been listening to and what they could play together. 

The next few weeks saw Hajime and Tooru attached at the hip. Any moment the two weren’t in school, they were in Hajime’s practice room so they didn’t bother the rest of the Oikawa household; Hajime would yell at Oikawa to take a break every once in a while, and in turn Oikawa would tap on his music stand whenever Hajime missed a note. 

Even when they had to take breaks from practice, the two often found each other to do their homework together or play video games. It was Hajime’s job on Friday’s to pick up snacks for a late-night movie session after competition practice. Sometimes Iwaizumi’s friends, Matsukawa Issei and Hanamaki Takahiro, would tag along for the odd documentary movie night. Hajime wasn’t nervous about how they’d get along with Oikawa, as the three clicked immediately and grew to tease each other mercilessly inside and outside of their group chat. Oikawa was a huge dork, they all found out but it wasn’t like the rest of them pretended that they were any cooler. Neither Matsukawa nor Hanamaki played any kind of instrument but would hang out in the corner of the practice room to shout nonsense to distract Hajime and Tooru whenever possible. 

They were only banned from the room one time while Hajime and Tooru recorded a practice demo of their two movements. For the competition, contestants were able to choose either a solo piece or choose two movements of a concerto up to eight minutes total. Their piece clocked them at around five minutes and thirty seconds, giving them plenty of time to spare, depending on how slowly they decided to play. 

The piece had a romantic feel, elongating the sounds of the violin into a love letter stretching between the harmony between the piano and violin. The piano played a steady and calming accompaniment, answering the violin’s complex melody with a soft beauty of its own. 

By the time they were satisfied with the recording, Hanamaki and Matsukawa were ready to lock them out of the studio. Laughing from exhaustion, Hajime pulled Tooru’s slumped body out of the practice room and set them all up on the couch for another dorky space documentary. Within half an hour, they were all passed out in the couches. 

Practicing for the competition took up most of their free time and occupied the majority of Hajime’s thoughts. He found himself thinking about Oikawa more too, envisioning him standing in front of his piano with lithe fingers gently trailing up and down his violin strings. He played with a perfect blend of delicacy and focused determination. He wouldn’t call Tooru a prodigy; not with the amount of hard work and hours poured into musical theory that Tooru had under his belt. His dedication to violin was fierce and his talent was all his own. Hajime had been in awe of Tooru from the moment he heard him play at that competition in 5th grade but got to witness Tooru blooming into his talent. 

Oikawa Tooru, who created symphonies on four strings and unwittingly caught Hajime’s heart within them. 

Hajime knew this would happen. Ever since he’d been teased when he was younger about being a “girly boy”, he’d tried to forget about what his heart yearned for. He’d seen _Behind the Candelabra_ and didn’t necessarily need to invite the comparison. A steady stream of musicians had filtered in and out of their house as he grew up, consciously eyeing the ones who caught his attention by their unique sense of style or manner of speaking. One musician in particular was at his house one night later than usual, piecing out their next composition with his mother. Hajime had gotten up from bed for a drink when she called him over to have a look at what they were doing. A short time later the man’s phone rang and Ichika signalled for him to invite their guest in. 

“Oh Suzuki, thanks for coming on short notice. I would have dropped Seiji off but Hajime’s father had to take the car on a call shift at the hospital so I didn’t want to leave him alone,” Ichika beamed at the man, helping Seiji into his jacket. 

“No bother at all Iwaizumi-san! I’m looking forward to your next performance. Seiji hums the piece all day long so I imagine it will be spectacular.” The two men waved as they left the house, leaving Hajime with Ichika. 

“Mama, why did those men have matching rings on like you and Papa?”

Ichika hesitated for a half a second before she smiled at Hajime. “Well, just like Mama and Papa those two men are in love and wanted to show that to each other through a symbol.”

“Two men?”

“Yes amorino, love takes many forms and you are free to love whoever you see fit. That’s what makes music so beautiful; we create for the ones we love and in them we find our passion for music.”

Hajime had never questioned himself after that, though he hadn’t ever found someone that piqued his interest. But it wasn’t like he was blind; Tooru was incredibly good-looking. He knew it too, _the bastard_. They never talked about it though, and while Tooru would chat away about the girls in his fan club, he hadn’t ever mentioned being attracted to any of them in particular or answered their confession letters with sincerity. 

Hajime didn’t want to hold onto nothing, but he would do his best to convey his feelings through his music, not knowing if Tooru felt the same. Tooru flirted with almost everyone by nature, and didn’t really offer Hajime any sort of indication of his feelings. But as they practiced together, the time spent with Oikawa only strengthened his feelings. He saw how passionate Oikawa was about music, pouring his soul into his playing. Hajime would have to be patient with himself. Just until after the competition at least, their composition too important to rupture the balance by blurting out his feelings. 

A text from said boy interrupted Hajime’s mental flashback. 

_Come for a run with me, I know you’ve been slacking._

_You think I’m slacking? Who was the one who snuck two extra packets of milk bread into the snack pile on Friday? I’ll kick your ass._

_Gotta catch me first. Meet me at the top of the hill by the park._

Grumbling, Hajime bent over to grab his hat and his earphones. His earphones, which seem to have gone missing. He sighed. This was going to be a long jog. 

Once he was ready, Hajime headed to the top of the hill. Oikawa was waiting for him, perched on the bench. He stood up when Hajime approached. 

“Hey! Shittykawa! I don’t remember letting you borrow my headphones!” Oikawa just looked at him, a confused expression on his face. 

“I said, those are mine. Give them back,” Hajime growled.

Oikawa just cupped his hand around his ear, pointing to the headphones in his ears as if they were the reason he couldn’t hear Hajime. 

“Oikawa!” Hajime yelled, lunging towards Tooru. He collided with Tooru’s chest, as the other wasn’t expecting Hajime to snatch at the headphones. 

“Ow Iwa-chan! You slammed right into me!” Hajime had knocked Tooru back against a tree in his efforts to take back his headphones. He rubbed at his back in exaggerated pain. “You’re such a savage Iwa-chan, what if I damaged my back?” 

Hajime pushed off the tree, blushing slightly as he tried not to think how he just kabedon’d Oikawa like a middle schooler. “Your arms work so you can still play violin, now give those back. What were you even listening to?” Hajime popped the buds into his ears, raising his eyebrows as he heard their composition through the earphones. 

“How can you run to this?” 

“I’m of many talents Iwa-chan.”

Hajime rolled his eyes. “Come on, I’ll race you to the train tracks and back.”

The competition grew closer and Hajime and Tooru were near inseparable. They felt they were ready with all the practicing they had done before, now just finding the time to tweak the piece to perfection. This would be their first performance together and they were equally nervous. 

“Iwa-chan, when we win the competition I want you to buy me a huge bouquet of roses. White ones. And at least two dozen!”

“Then you can buy me a sports car.”

“Those aren’t comparable at all!” Oikawa whined, pinching Hajime’s arm as they sat at the kitchen table to do homework. 

“Oh I thought we were talking about things that wouldn’t happen,” Hajime replied in a monotone voice. 

“Have some faith in us Iwa-chan!” 

“I didn’t mean we wouldn’t win. I meant you aren’t getting any roses from me.”

“Why not? Aren’t you supposed to be congratulated by the ones that love you?”

Hajime froze in place. He couldn’t believe what he had just heard. Hajime wracked his brain in a panic — had Tooru caught onto his feelings?

“L-love?”

“Of course Iwa-chan! Like when Minako and I would play really well, we’d go out for milkshakes. And there would always be a bouquet of flowers for each of us waiting at home from our parents! Naturally, I’d also get flowers from my admirers at the competitions too, since my fan club looooooves me–“

Hajime’s brain went fuzzy, drowning out the rest of Oikawa’s chatter. Stupid, _stupid._ Tooru was such an idiot. _Hajime_ was such an idiot. Of course Tooru didn’t mean anything by it. He wasn’t in love with Hajime at all. He meant best friend love, or how Oikawa would tell Hanamaki that he loved him whenever Hanamaki tossed him another snack. Not the love that pumped through Hajime’s heart when he listened to Tooru play, not the love that moved his fingers across the keys to match Tooru’s determination to get a piece perfect. Not the love that burned under his skin when Tooru latched onto Hajime’s arm or laughed next to him when they would do homework or play games. 

He didn’t mean that kind of love. And Hajime was so stupid for thinking Tooru would be able to tell through their music. 

“Earth to Iwa-chan? Hello? Anyone home in there?” Hajime jolted from his thought when he felt Oikawa tapping on his forehead. 

“What are you doing?” He asked, pushing Oikawa’s hand away. 

“Well you weren’t answering! What were you thinking about that made your tiny brain short circuit?”

Suddenly Hajime felt sick. The feeling of Tooru being so close to him on the couch sent his stomach rolling. He felt sweaty and feverish, chills beginning to course through his body.

“Hey Iwa-chan, are you alright?” Oikawa’s face came into view, peering at Hajime’s flushed face. “You look like you’re getting a fever.”

Hajime stood up abruptly. “I’m going to go home, I’m getting a headache.”

“Do you want me to walk you home?” 

“No,” Hajime answered too quickly. “No it’s fine Oikawa, I’m just going to go back and rest for now. I’ll come back tomorrow to practice.”

“Okay,” Oikawa didn’t look convinced, but he moved his legs off the table to let Hajime pass him. “Can you let me know when you’re feeling better? The competition is only a few days away, let me know if I can help!”

“Sure thing,” Hajime said, shrugging on his coat in an attempt to leave as quickly as he could. “See you later, Oikawa.”

The moment Hajime entered his own house, he broke. Hajime was glad that Ichika was away on tour again and his father was on a twenty-four hour shift at the hospital. The empty house didn’t mock his feelings, letting him sit in his misery. He wanted to sit at the piano, he wanted to rush back to Tooru’s house to practice, he wanted to go up to bed and bury himself in the covers, he wanted to yell in Tooru’s face that that wasn’t the kind of love he wanted to hear from him, he wanted to hear him play. He wanted, he wanted, he wanted. 

Instead, he looked up the number for a florist and pre-ordered two dozen white roses to be delivered after their performance. If he was going to be miserable after their competition was finished, he might as well not have Oikawa pestering him that he didn’t get him flowers. 

The day of the competition arrived, and Oikawa had been texting him nonstop since he woke up.

_Iwa-chan, do you have all your sheet music?_

_Don’t forget to iron your pants! It doesn’t matter that you’re sitting down, I’m not going on with someone who looks like a laundry hamper._

_What colour of blue should my vest be?_

_IWA-CHAN ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME????_

“For fucks sake Oikawa,” Hajime grumbled. He picked up his phone to call his annoying partner. Tooru picked up on the first ring.

“Iwa-chan, why aren’t you answering my messages?” 

“Oikawa, it is six in the goddamn morning. Why are you blowing up my phone when I haven’t even had a chance to make myself a cup of coffee?”

“So grumpy in the mornings, oh prickly one. I just want to make sure everything is perfect today.”

Hajime sighed, heading down to the kitchen to prepare his coffee. “Oikawa, it’s going to be alright. My pants were ironed yesterday and are hanging in my closet. You already picked the teal vest to go over your shirt since you didn’t want to wear anything around your neck.”

There was silence on the other end of the line. Hajime wanted to prod but he kept silent, waiting for Tooru to take a deep breath.

“I’m sorry Iwa-chan. I think I’m just nervous for our first performance together.” Oikawa couldn’t keep the slight tremor out of his voice even while he desperately tried to keep his tone light. “I know we’ll give an awesome performance.”

“Of course we will,” Hajime smiled. “You’ve been amazing to me ever since I saw your first performance all those years ago and you’ll be perfect with this one. 

"Plus you have me,” Hajime added, “and I am not going to let you fail.”

“Okay Iwa-chan, you don’t have to be so mushy this early in the morning!” _Back to being a little shit already_ , Hajime thought. “Pick me up at eight?”

“I’ll be there.” Hajime promised. He heard the _click_ of the other line and sighed. He’d seen Tooru be nervous for performances over the years, but usually Minako was there to jab a sharp elbow into his ribcage whenever Tooru got inside of his head. Hajime feared that he’d break a rib if he tried to do that to Tooru. Slacking on arm day? Not in Hajime’s book.

Once he was ready and changed, Hajime left to head across the park to meet Oikawa at his house, who was just saying goodbye to his sister at the front door.

“Promise you’ll come meet us backstage before we go on? We’re last _again_ so there shouldn’t be anyone else back there,” Oikawa looked at his sister expectantly. 

“Yeah don’t worry, I’ll be there to cheer you guys on. I can’t believe you haven’t let me hear what you’ve been practicing together,” Minako prodded at his violin case.

“This is our grand debut as partners!” Oikawa exclaimed. “We have to keep some surprises for the fans. Everyone’s used to you and I playing together, this is going to be a whole different experience.”

“If we don’t head off, we’re going to be late for warmups Oikawa, let’s go.” Hajime sent a look to Minako, who answered with a slight nod. He had tasked her to accept the flower delivery he arranged so Tooru would come home to the flowers he always did. Though they were scheduled to arrive in half an hour and Hajime didn’t want to ruin the surprise by lingering. 

The two boys headed off to the Sendai Music Hall, depositing their belongings in the practice room before making their way over to the competition directors to get signed in and start warming up. Classical musicians warmed up their instruments around them, a cacophony of strings and brass and woodwinds filling the air. Being the last performers, Hajime and Tooru had to wait an extra few minutes to get to the piano, as the earlier performers needed to use it for their own warm ups and tuning. 

They took their seats in the audience, only half-listening to the other performers as they anxiously awaited their turn. Ichika sent Hajime a good luck message, feeling sorry that she wasn’t there to watch in person but that she’d be tuning into the live stream on the Sendai website. Hajime wasn’t bothered that she wasn’t able to come to see them play live, but when he showed it to Oikawa, the boy jumped in his seat.

“Oh great, now we’ve got the whole of the Kyoto Orchestra to judge us as well,” Oikawa whispered nervously.

“They aren’t going to judge us, it’s fine. Now quit whispering during the performance,” Hajime hushed him.

With only a few more performances before theirs, the two made their way backstage so Tooru could adjust his violin tuning and prepare for their performance, He glanced around backstage, eyes darting around in the darkness.

“Where’s Minako? She’s supposed to meet us backstage and we’re supposed to go on soon! What’s taking her so long?”

“Maybe she got stuck at the train station, I’m sure she’ll be here. It’ll be fine, she’ll be here to watch us.”

“You don’t understand Iwa-chan, Minako is always with me before a performance and she always talks about what flavour of milkshake she’s going to get and I can make fun of her for her dumb ones. Obviously pineapple and marshmallow is the correct choice and anyone who chooses plain vanilla or chocolate must be –.”

“Tooru,” Hajime interrupted his rambling, raising his voice as loud as he dared while they were still backstage. “I know this is the first time Minako isn’t with you, but I’m here. And I know this is the first time we’ve performed together, but I couldn’t be prouder to have you as a partner.”

Oikawa looked at him, stunned at the outburst. Hajime leaned over and grabbed Oikawa’s face between his hands. “You’re the absolute best violinist. Even if this is the only time we perform together, I feel lucky to share this with you. Those facts will never change.”

Hajime took a step closer. “I love playing with you. I love watching how beautifully you play your violin and the sound of it follows me even when I sleep. You have talent Tooru, and you bring out the best in whoever is lucky enough to accompany you.”

“Iwa-chan..”

“And right now that’s me,” Hajime continued. “We’re going to go out there together and play this piece we’ve practised together and we’re going to win this whole damn competition.”

Hajime meant to remove his hands from Oikawa’s face, but was stopped when Oikawa took his right hand to keep Hajime’s left on his cheek. He turned his head into Hajime’s palm and pressed a light kiss to the center. “I believe in you,” he murmured. 

It was Hajime’s turn to be stunned. Isn’t this exactly what he wasn’t going to do in confessing? How was he supposed to concentrate on the composition now? 

Although his fears vanished the second Tooru met his eyes. Hajime smiled and whispered, “let’s do this.”

The two were announced and made their way to the stage. Oikawa stepped up to the music stand at the centre of the stage and Hajime seated himself on the bench. Bringing up his violin, Oikawa glanced over his shoulder for Hajime’s signal. At his nod, they counted a breath and began to [play](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zN67TQjcKeI&list=OLAK5uy_mtsn36xb8mJVim2IoqoudUOsAFg9sbMRY&index=7).

Sound filled the music hall, vibrato reflecting off the walls and surrounding the players with a cheerful tone. Hajime loved these Dvorak pieces, reflecting the awe he felt when he first met Tooru in this same music hall and growing their friendship through music. This shared appreciation brought them together and as he listened to their creation, he couldn’t imagine ever feeling as happy as he did right then.

Their first movement ended, and Oikawa looked over his shoulder again for Hajime’s signal. He sent him a knowing smile and a nod. Oikawa crinkled his eyes in response, brought up his bow and began the [second](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5blKo3PBh58&list=OLAK5uy_mtsn36xb8mJVim2IoqoudUOsAFg9sbMRY&index=9) movement **.**

Appassionato. Passionate. Hajime could think of nothing better to describe Tooru, who threw so much of himself into his playing. Tooru, who was swaying under the spotlight, swiftly moving his bow across the strings. His violin rang with soul and even though they weren’t looking at each other, the sound of their instruments danced through the hall, blending together in perfect harmony.

The duo finished their piece and stood together at the centre to take a small bow for the judges. The way the hall echoed with loud applause, Hajime knew that his performanced portrayed his feelings to Tooru. And Tooru answered his love letter.

Turning to the wings, Minako stood in the darkness holding a bouquet of two dozen white roses. 

“Nee-chan, you made it!” Tooru threw his arms around his sister, who hugged him back fiercely. 

Hajime looked at the bouquet in a panic. “Minako, weren’t those supposed to be a surprise when Tooru got home?”

Minako laughed and handed them over to Tooru, who blushed lightly. “They’re actually for you,” Tooru grinned, presenting the flowers to Hajime. 

Hajime blindly took them in confusion. “I’m not sure I understand what’s going on here.”

“Honestly Iwa-chan, didn’t I tell you that you should be congratulated by the ones that love you? This is my congratulations to you. As well as my confession I guess, even though you kind of ruined that with your speech earlier.”

Hajime blinked. His mind flashed back to the kiss Tooru placed in the middle of his palm before the performance and flushed a shade of red that would rival any rose that Tooru could give them.

“Between the two of you,” Minako was laughing, holding her phone out to capture Hajime’s red face, “I’m not going to be your flower dealer any longer. You’re going to have to schedule this yourself in the future.”

It was Tooru’s turn to laugh. “Did Iwa-chan plan to surprise me with flowers too?”

Hajime pulled him into a hug and laughed along with the Oikawa siblings. “Of course, idiot. Did you think I was going to subject myself to weeks of complaining if you didn’t get a bouquet when you got home?”

Tooru’s admonished cry followed the two when they were called back onto the stage to accept their first place certificate. Minako ruffled her brother’s hair and told them she would treat the boys to milkshakes for their debut performance. 

“Do you think you’ll play together in the next competition?” Minako asked once they all settled down with their drinks.

Hajime and Tooru looked at each other, Hajime reaching under the table to grasp at Tooru’s fingers. His delicate, beautiful, determined fingers matched Hajime’s own. They wrote their first love letter together and now, only the stars knew the symphonies they would create.

  
  
  



End file.
